


While You Wait for Me

by AmayaNoCho



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dealing with Grimmjow away for work, Developing Relationship, Fluff, Focusing on Ulquiorra, M/M, Mild Language, Rain, Work, past illness, pride month
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-18 15:30:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 14,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14855405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmayaNoCho/pseuds/AmayaNoCho
Summary: On the last day of May, not long after the two had moved into a new house in a whole new city together, Grimmjow is sent off to handle some work-related assignment. While he's away, Ulquiorra is left alone for the first time since they had gotten themselves into their prior living space together.But Grimmjow didn't leave him without something planned for him. And it seems he's got the whole city in on it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided I'd try doing a little short work to celebrate pride month, along with trying to keep my writing going, so here it is!   
> With each day shall come a short chapter to it, and hopefully none shall be late ^^;

June first. The start of a long, long month for Ulquiorra, as far as he was concerned. 

Grimmjow had left town for a work assignment and was unable to bring Ulquiorra with him because of the brunette having to stay here both for his own job and to mind their new little house, what with unpacking still left to do and making sure to upkeep the place.  
Grimmjow had only left yesterday morning and yet the one night alone, after having spent so many with him back in that apartment, had been difficult. The fact that he had had to spend it in such a new environment definitely didn't help, either. 

_"You'll be fine!"_  
Grimmjow had sounded so sure of that.  
_"I'll be back here before ya know it!"_  
If only he knew... 

As he sat at the bus stop, Ulquiorra couldn't help but notice the large, colorful, and by all means new poster that had been stuck up to his right. 'Determination! Power! And Above All, Willpower!' The last word was entirely capitalized, but the 'will' of it had been, for some reason, circled with likely a blue sharpie, allowing the circling to stand out against the mostly-orange background. It was part of some sort of motivational poster project that a nearby graphics shop did, as they seemed to always make and put up a new one around town every month. They were always so colorful and eye-catching, but he was sure that was the goal. 

But for someone to mark on one..? That had never honestly happened before. At least, not from what he could recall since moving here with Grimmjow about a week ago.


	2. Chapter 2

After a mostly-sleepless night, the second of June came much too late for Ulquiorra. Grimmjow was due to return the very last day of this month, and he was honestly wholly eager for it. In all honesty, he was silently wishing away the month as he once again noticed that motivational poster with the 'will' circled and was left to wonder why. 

As he boarded the bus and paid for his trip to work, he heard a woman's voice very distinctly from the rest of the passengers. "Will he _ever_ pick up by the third ring?" She seemed to be trying to call someone, but to no avail. "Ugh, what _will_ I do with him?!" The woman beside her chuckled.   
"Oh, will you just give up on that already? Doesn't seem he will!"   
"Oh, he _will_."   
"Sure he will..?" The one with the phone looked at her with an expression of amusement and questioning.   
"I keep this up, he most certainly _will!_ Otherwise, I _will_ be having a li'l chat with him after work today!"   
"Oh ho, _will_ you, now?"   
"I most certainly will!" 

Ulquiorra couldn't help but hope that whoever the man in question was, he would learn soon enough to answer this woman swifter in the future.


	3. Chapter 3

Ulquiorra sat down at his desk with a bit of a yawn once he got to work on the third. That poster had still been there, and it seemed that the women were on the bus again today, too, saying things about how 'will he ever learn to pick up sooner?' and 'if I have to, I will have another talk with him tonight!'   
Then again, they were both dressed professionally; it was likely they, too, used that bus to get to work, and perhaps also return home. It wasn't like he noticed and memorized everyone on that bus in only so few days, after all. 

"Will?" He looked over now at a higher-up in his department, accounting, as she looked around with a few papers in hand. "Will?"   
"Mrs. Stacy?" She looked now at Ulquiorra.   
"Yes, Cifer?"   
"Please excuse me for saying so, but we have not had anyone by the name of 'Will' working in this particular department at least since I started working here." There weren't too many others in accounting, so it wasn't difficult for him to know he hadn't seen any little name stands with 'Will' on it at any of the desks here.   
"Hm..." She seemed to consider this for a moment while looking at the papers. "But these say 'Will'," she muttered, "and they say to be directed to accounting..." 

"It seems someone may have made a small error with those," Ulquiorra tried, which got a small nod from his superior. "With all the papers this building handles in even a single day, I would not be surprised if a few had a misprint or misdirect."   
"True... I will take this over to another department, then, and see if they have any 'Will's expecting more paperwork." As she left, he couldn't help but wonder about her word choicing. 

She was, after all, one of the very few people he knew who normally used 'shall' instead of 'will' in instances that called for one or the other.


	4. Chapter 4

The fourth came with that poster still remaining on the wall with its circle, the two women talking again about the man who seemed like he just will not pick up his phone when that woman tries to call him, despite the talks he had likely had to endure up until this point in regards to that, and Mrs. Stacy walking into accounting again with this time a file addressed to some non-existing accountant named 'Will'. 

When he reminded her about there being no 'Will' in this department again, she made a remark about how they needed to do something about this, and how they need to understand that she didn't have everyone's names memorized in every department "and can keep catching mistakes like this on my own."   
"Perhaps you could file a complaint about this..?" Ulquiorra wasn't quite sure what one does here when those in charge of directing the work made an error. Not only had he not been here long, but this was honestly something he had never dealt with before.   
"I think I will," she decided before leaving.   
There was her using 'will' again rather than 'shall'. He could've sworn that when they first met, and honestly every day before yesterday, she had seemed to have a preference of using 'shall'... 

After work, as Ulquiorra waited for the bus, two men were already chatting as they stood nearby. "...Kicked the bucket," he overheard one saying.   
"Took th' ol' crone long 'nough to," the other man replied with amusement. "So, ya hear anythin' 'bout 'er will yet? I mean, you _were_ her favorite li'l nephew, yeah? Surely you will get some good shit outta it?"   
"Oh, I _will,"_ the other agreed. "Me an' my brother will hear 'bout our shares soon enough, an' then we will get t' dividin' up as 'er will says to with th' rest a the family."   
"Betcha that will be fun."   
"Like pickin' splinters outta my tongue, it will be! That bratty aunt a mine will be there, after all!"   
"Oh man, yeah, she will be, won't she!"   
As Ulquiorra boarded the bus and paid his fee, he felt a good amount of relief about getting away from that conversation.


	5. Chapter 5

Ulquiorra, somewhat-thankfully, had the fifth off. He was still struggling with sleep, but he was still able to function, at least, and get himself around without any problems. After breakfast, he slipped on a thin black jacket to stick his house keys into one of its pockets before slipping on a pair of socks and tennis shoes and heading out. 

It was a nice day, even if it was more on the hot side than the mild, and there weren't too many people out and about. He would've taken a book along, but he still needed to finish unpacking all of those, and he had decided beforehand that today was going to be a day to scout out the new city, anyway.   
It was a city of mostly buildings of varying sorts, from apartments to shops, and the streets were decent, just a few bumps here and there to be seen. The sidewalk was also in good shape, despite that he eventually came upon a stop sign that looked to be otherwise, and likely because someone had hit it with their car. 

"Oh, will ya look at that..!" Ulquiorra glanced over to see a young couple watching over one of the few lakes this city had to offer. They were side-by-side, leaning against an old fence that was likely more white at one point in time, with the girl happily pointing at some ducks on the water.   
"The ducks haven't been out in a while," the boy commented.   
"Oh, maybe if we throw some bread out, do you think they will come closer?" She seemed to be carrying a small bag with her that may have had the makings of a picnic, considering how the boy beside her had a rolled-up blanket leaning against the fence by him.   
"I think they will," he decided. "How about it?" 

"Oh, maybe a picture, too?" She looked now toward Ulquiorra. "Oh, hey, will you take our picture?"   
"Uh, sure." He hadn't been expecting anyone to suddenly talk to him, let alone request he take their picture like this.   
"Thank you!" She walked over to him to hand him a lime green cell phone. "Here, you can hold it horizontally or vertically to take a pic, it will work either way," she explained, "and this button here will take the picture."   
"Alright." As she smiled at him before going over to stand by the boy, Ulquiorra held the phone up to take a picture.   
"Cheese!" After he took the picture, the two walked over to look at it.   
"Oh, that looks nice!"   
"I will have to agree," the boy spoke, "that does!" They smiled at each other before the boy went to pick the blanket up.   
"You _will_ e-mail me that," the girl spoke, "right? Or text it, whichever will work for ya."   
"Wait, but this phone-?"   
"It's a gift," the boy informed him, "from a guy we talked to not too long ago. Her e-mail and number's already in there, if you will consider sending the photo?"   
"Wait-" Before Ulquiorra could get an answer, let alone ask his question, the two decided to run off waving to him, laughing happily as they went. A gift? For them, or for them to wait and give to him? 

Ulquiorra stood there in confusion before looking down at the phone. In the contacts, sure enough, there was already one number.   
The contact was in as 'Will'.


	6. Chapter 6

Ulquiorra was surprised to wake on the sixth to find a text from an unknown number on what was apparently, as of yesterday, now his new cell phone. 

'Hey, how ya holdin up over there?   
Got 24 more days til I get back. Hope u arent just gonna use them to mope over me ;p' 

Grimmjow. He just _knew_ it had to be him. Was most likely him who gave this to that couple to hand off to Ulquiorra, too, considering how he already had this phone's number. What was he up to? 

'I do still have a job to do, you know. Unpacking is still something to be handled as well, as I am sure you may recall.   
Why did you give this to those two people to give to me, though? Surely you could have just simply given it to me before you left?' 

After he had replied, Ulquiorra went to eat a quick breakfast, then brush his teeth before pocketing the cell phone, turned off, and head out to the bus stop.   
When he boarded the bus, it seemed that the two women were no longer speaking of the man not picking up his phone fast enough. "You know, there's this new restaurant opening up on the tenth," the one who had been struggling with the man informed the other, "if you perhaps have time that day to go check it out?"   
"Oh, did you hear anything about what sort of place it is? Sit-down, take-out..?"   
"It's supposed to be just a li'l casual sort of place," she began. "You know, like, the ones where you can sit at a booth, or you can sit at the serving bar. Oh, but you don't go there to party and get crazy, you go to eat and relax."   
"Oh, I get what you mean. There's a place like that back where I lived when I was still in elementary."   
"Where you lived?"   
"Oh yeah! It was so nice, you really would've liked it!"   
"You should take me with you if you ever visit your home town, then!"   
"If you've got the time to spare for it, you can come right along with me next time, sure!"   
Ulquiorra was relieved for their topic change this morning. He was by all means done with hearing about the man who apparently just will not pick up fast enough. 

He was also relieved, once at work, to no longer be hearing Mrs. Stacy looking for this mysterious, non-existent 'Will' in accounting. Whatever the issue was with that, it seemed she had finally gotten it cleared up. 

Once he was done with work and back home, Ulquiorra checked his new cell phone to see if he had gotten any reply back from Grimmjow. It was around six in the evening now, so he had had more than plenty of time to at least send a short one. 

'What, u dont miss me yet? U seemed so upset when I told u about work makin me do this b4 I left! U got ovr THAT so quickly sounds like! D;' 

Ulquiorra felt like he was exaggerating about how Ulquiorra had taken the news initially, but he also seemed kind of right; Ulquiorra had been disappointed about it, but had Grimmjow really picked up on it? Ulquiorra bit at his bottom lip. 

'I do miss you... But I have things to do here.   
I know you are coming back, too.' 

After sending that, Ulquiorra went to the kitchen to heat up a bowl of soup, nice and easy for only one person eating, before sitting down at the dining room table and glancing at his phone.   
Maybe Grimmjow was busy now? It had been a few hours since Grimmjow had sent his reply, after all... Ulquiorra gave a soft sigh. He really did need a distraction while away from work, it seemed. Maybe work more on that unpacking, at least, after he was done with dinner. He could also try checking out that new place opening on the tenth, too, once it did.   
Ulquiorra finished his dinner, washed his bowl and spoon by hand before putting those into the small drying rack they had by the sink, then went over to the calendar to circle the tenth on it. Once he had done that, he went to go shower before he went to the spare room that he and Grimmjow had decided upon for putting everything that still required unpacking. 

They had already gotten all of the furniture into place, along with the kitchen ware, but Grimmjow still hadn't gotten around to unpacking pretty much any of his clothes that he hadn't worn yet, his DVDs, those trophies of his, his stuff for working out had yet to even get to the room they had agreed would be for that...   
Ulquiorra shook his head. No, thinking about what Grimmjow still needed to unpack wouldn't help him any right now. He needed to focus on his own stuff. Ulquiorra went to a box labeled 'books' and began to carefully open it, then removed a few to start walking over to their bedroom, since that was were they had decided to place the wooden bookcase.   
As he made his second trip of this, he couldn't help but recall how they needed to get pictures up, too. Then again, they had yet to even decide where to stick those up, or where to set the ones that weren't to be hung up.   
It was while he was opening a box of his own clothes that weren't yet unpacked, after finishing the back and forths with books, that his cell phone alerted him of a new text. 

'Well yea! With u still over there, I've got every reason to come back!   
Only way I wouldnt is if u were comin over here xD' 

That dumbass wasn't making this any easier, whether he knew it or not. Yet Ulquiorra couldn't help but smirk as that goof came to mind, as he imagined that man saying the very words he had just texted him with a voice full of amusement.   
Even if he could be rowdy at times, Grimmjow was a good boyfriend to him. As far as Ulquiorra could tell, though he refused to say it aloud, Grimmjow was just what he needed in his life. 

'You better. We just got this place, after all.'


	7. Chapter 7

Lucky number seven. Ulquiorra was sure Grimmjow would've started the morning with some sort of remark about it being the seventh, as he had decided to do before. After showering, Ulquiorra went to the kitchen to get some bread into the toaster before turning his cell phone on to check that. 

'Hope u remembr that 2days the lucky number day without me there 2 tell u' 

That goof had even put a little green clover emoticon at the end of his text. 

'I haven't lost track of the date since you left.' 

It was a bit embarrassing for him to admit, but Ulquiorra had indeed forgotten what date it was before, and several times, too, and yet Grimmjow and his antics had always seemed to help to keep him up. 

_"Lucky number seven's hit for the month, Ulq!"_ That was what he had said last month, the morning of the seventh of May. "Ya wanna go see if any a those four-leaf clovers decide t' let ya take 'em home t'day?"   
"Not really," he had replied, and yet Grimmjow had simply laughed, commented about how they both had the day off, anyway, so why not?, and then grabbed Ulquiorra up from bed and out to the apartment stairway. That apartment had been five floors of brick walls and metal stairs, with a cracked window on the first floor that had yet to get fixed after the couple who had lived there before had gotten into a rather physical fallout. It had no front yard, as that was where its parking area was that led out to the main street, but it did have some grass growing to its sides and behind it, which was where a small back yard was. With its occasional weeds, violets, and passing-through rabbits, the grassy area behind was at least better than nothing. 

Grimmjow had eagerly brought him behind the apartment that day, with Grimmjow barefoot in jeans while Ulquiorra was barefoot and in his black pajama shirt and shorts. "You could've at least let me get dressed first," Ulquiorra commented, which only had Grimmjow laugh.   
"What, and risk someone else finding that four-leaf before us? C'mon!"   
Despite his own words, Ulquiorra ended up finding himself searching for clovers with Grimmjow that day, talking with him pretty much the whole time while eventually even forgetting that he was still in his pajamas. 

That was the same day Grimmjow told him about this house. Ulquiorra had spotted a small patch of clovers, and Grimmjow had given him the one four-leaf they found before telling him that it looked like their luck was finally about to start looking up for them.   
Ulquiorra walked back to the room with all of their packed boxes and carefully moved them around, looking for the box marked 'fragile', all capitalized and red. He opened it to find the wrapped-up photos, the carefully-wrapped glass cat figurine they had, and a small navy pouch with deep green braided drawstrings, the sort one might use to place a necklace in.   
Inside it was where he found that four-leaf clover they had found that day. They had ended up deciding to have it preserved in resin, and Grimmjow had gotten the pouch to then give them both, clover and pouch, to Ulquiorra. 

But the clover wasn't alone; a small piece of paper was there, too, with 'you' written on it in a deep blue pen.   
As he returned to the kitchen, he found the toast to be ready and two new texts from Grimmjow. 

'Keepin count til I come back? Didnt think u'd end up doin that Ulqui  <3'   
'Btw, did u evr get tht clover outta the fragile box yet? 2day would b a good day 2 do tht, dontcha think?' 

It sure did seem to be.


	8. Chapter 8

Ulquiorra looked out a bus window that morning of the eighth wondering why he had found that little paper with 'you' written on it with the clover. 

He had tried to ask Grimmjow via text, but all he had gotten was Grimmjow saying a 'maybe' to being asked if he'd left that there, and when asked what it meant, Grimmjow had told him to pretty much keep his eyes and ears peeled 'for the pieces' that'd give him the answer, and that he knew Ulquiorra would get them together.   
What was he up to..? 

"Will you look at this!" Ulquiorra couldn't help but wonder what it was those two were going to be going on about this morning.   
"Oh, that's lovely!" When he glanced over, the one who hadn't had the calling issues, the one who was talking about bringing the other along to her home town sometime, was looking at something on her own phone while the other was doing the same. "Will you be buying it?"   
"Will _you_ be paying for it for me?"   
The other woman laughed. "And what, will you be taking care of _my_ bills in the meantime? I mean honestly, will you just look at that price!"   
"Oh yeah," she laughed, " _way_ too much, huh?" 

_'If ya keep ur eyes and ears peeled for the pieces, u'll figure it out.  
Or what, will u really need me 2 spell it out 4 ya xD'_

Keeping his eyes and ears peeled for pieces... Were these two women in on it, just like that couple? They did, after all, use 'will' quite frequently for a few days, and the couple had a contact put into his new cell phone that was labeled 'Will'. Mrs. Stacy had also been asking about a non-existent 'Will' in accounting, too, for a short time, and had been using the word over 'shall'.   
Then came the small paper with 'you' on it, the women's conversations using 'you' quite frequently, and now all this 'will you's from them, too...   
It was starting to seem like he needed to piece together some sort of thought, and perhaps it was starting with 'will you', in that order. 

If that was the case, then he likely would be hearing that word order somehow at work soon, too, and likely as soon as tomorrow, accompanied by these two's using it again.


	9. Chapter 9

Despite what he had thought yesterday, Ulquiorra only heard those two women going on with a new conversation on the ninth. Work seemed to go as it usually would, without anything out of the ordinary occurring.   
When he returned home, he flipped open his cell phone while considering the past few days. 

'Grimmjow, what exactly am I to be piecing together?' 

He set his cell phone down on a small table beside the couch in the living room before lying himself down on the couch. It was a decent-sized couch, long enough for Ulquiorra to lie down across the three cushions and still have a couple inches left either above or below him. Then again, he wasn't too tall... The couch was a sky blue in color with light green vines designed onto it, weaving about it with a few leaves in several spots.   
The couch was also pretty new still, as the two had gotten it after moving here, making it one of very few things they had decided to purchase after the move. The long coffee table in front of it was a piece of furniture they had brought over from the apartment, as was the wooden television stand that was in front of the wall across from the couch, but the flat screen on that same stand was also new, and also had only been used once, which was Grimmjow making sure it was all plugged in properly and working after they had gotten it here.   
It was becoming more and more tempting to pick up the remote control from the coffee table and turn the television on for some background noise. 

'Shouldnt have 2 think 2 hard on tht by now, Ulqui' 

That was the response he found when he picked his cell phone up after it had buzzed from a new text. He wasn't about to budge and just tell him, nor give him a decent hint, was he. 

'Btw, I'm gonna b busy over here 4 a few days starting 2morrow, so I wont be able 2 respond like I'v been doin' 

That added text wasn't something Ulquiorra had wanted to see. He was sure it couldn't be helped, however. 

'Ok. But make sure to tell me once that's lightened up, at least?' 

After sending that, Ulquiorra turned the television on with the remote before he began to wonder about just what to have for dinner tonight.


	10. Chapter 10

Today marked the grand opening of a new restaurant in town. Not only that, but it seemed that such an event had led to more than just Ulquiorra having today off; the sidewalk in front of both the new restaurant and its neighbors was teeming with people this morning.   
And here he had been crossing fingers Sunday church would've had the crowd thinned for at least the duration of his own time here... Either the people here were, like himself, atheists, they didn't worship a faith calling for a Sunday gathering, or they were people who went to masses that were either absurdly early or just later on in the day, after seven o' clock, the current time. 

Regardless of the reason for their presence, it wasn't a situation he himself was very fond of, which was why he was currently not on the teeming sidewalk amongst the large crowd, but was instead on the sidewalk across the small two-lane street with a few others.   
Ulquiorra had gone into accounting in the first place to allow himself to have a career which not only had a decent pay, but it also wouldn't place him into a position that required him to interact with too many people all at once too often. In the city he had lived with Grimmjow in prior to here, he even had an overly-bubbly coworker who loved presentations, so Ulquiorra and her had made a deal that if ever he had to make one, she'd present it with credit to him.   
Ulquiorra could speak in and in front of large groups without any sort of panic attack, but it wasn't his cup of tea, so to speak. 

As he stood there, waiting for his watch to read eight o' clock, he couldn't help but notice a couple of girls looking his way more often than he was comfortable with. These two had been in the teeming crowd, but it seemed they had decided, for one reason or another, to move across the street as well not long after his own arrival.   
Around the time it was a quarter 'till, the brunette of the two girls ended up directing herself and the redhead toward him. Not what he had wanted. "So," the brunette spoke, "guessin' you're also here for the _grand_ opening?"   
"Yes." He honestly felt weary of speaking to these two right now, but he was sure it was obvious to anyone that he could tell they were originally here for the same reason, so there was no need for him to return the question.   
"Free food, new place, nice day... It'll be worth the wait," the brunette mused. "Even have some new people to maybe mingle with."   
"For some," Ulquiorra responded. "I am not so much a 'mingler' myself."   
"Oh? But you were over here standing all alone," she observed, "so I thought maybe you were like the two of us? Single and ready ta mingle?" 

He was beginning to think that between the two of them, the brunette was the talker and the redhead was the potentially-shy follower, along with possibly the one truly wondering if Ulquiorra was also single and searching. "I am already with someone."   
Sure enough, the redhead seemed a touch more uncomfortable now, but her friend seemed determined. "Oh? But I don't see no ring," she inquired.   
"Julie," the redhead whispered, "please..." She seemed more inclined to respect what Ulquiorra had just said.   
"We have been together for a good while now," Ulquiorra stated, "and have just not moved to such a state in the relationship quite yet."   
"Well, I'd be wantin' a ring after 'a good while'," Julie remarked. "She's got quite the patience, or is she keepin' _you_ waiting?" 

"He," Ulquiorra corrected, "and no, no one is keeping anyone waiting." The only waiting going on at the moment between the two was Ulquiorra waiting on the blue-haired boyfriend's return from his work trip.   
"Oh, 'he'?"   
"Currently out of town, or he would likely be here as well." Ulquiorra wasn't quite up for this dragging on any longer. "I have no intimate interest in women, nor do I wish to continue this."   
While Julie seemed to take the hint and leave him be, walking back to where she had been standing before with what seemed to be a look of amusement, her friend gave a quick "I'm so sorry" to him before rejoining her.   
"Whoever your partner is," Ulquiorra heard a man nearby begin to say to him, "he's a lucky guy t' have ya. Don't let what she said get to you."   
He definitely wouldn't. 

Besides, as far as Ulquiorra could tell, he himself was the lucky one.


	11. Chapter 11

The new restaurant had been packed all day yesterday, from what Ulquiorra had not only gotten to see for himself that morning for breakfast and evening for dinner, but also what one of his coworkers was telling him today. 

"I'm tellin' ya," he said with quite the cheerful tone, "there were _so_ many people there for lunch, Cifer! My wife and I, we ended up in quite a line, and we ended up waiting in it from about eleven 'till one!" He chuckled. "So glad my wife said we should get there a few hours earlier than we wanted to eat! Lemme tell ya, she sure knows her stuff about shopping and eating out!"   
For now, they were two of four in the break room. The man speaking was from the filing crew, the one woman present was another accountant, like Ulquiorra, Suzuki, and the last present was from the advertising division. "I waited until a couple hours before close to go myself," the advertiser spoke. "Even then, was still packed, and still an hour and a half for waiting."   
"Hope it was worth the wait," the Suzuki remarked.   
"What," the filer spoke, "you didn't go?"   
"Nope. I decided that I'm going to check it out tonight, with a couple of my gal friends."   
"Any particular reason for that?" Ulquiorra, while he was the one inquiring, wasn't all too concerned about the answer; he was sure someone was about to ask anyway. 

"One of them wasn't able to take off yesterday, at all, despite that she was giving them a two week early request. Apparently too many people had already done so."   
"She got today off instead?" The advertiser asked before taking another drink of his coffee.   
"Yes. She's _likely_ back at home waiting on the rest of us to get off right now," she added with amusement, "so it seems going today turned the tables on _that."_   
After a bit more chatting, they all ended up going their separate ways, back to work. It seemed it was another average type of work day, without any strange speech patterns or random hint words anywhere. Even if Ulquiorra was still overall new to this building, he had spoken with Suzuki before, so he was sure that if she was in on this, she would have altered her speak, much like their superior had. 

Or perhaps she was informed simply to 'act natural' for today. Was Grimmjow not only busy on his end, but deciding to leave Ulquiorra with a few days off of his piecing? Perhaps to consider what he had already?


	12. Chapter 12

'Made it through a dozen days of the month now! Almost halfway!' 

It was a text of encouragement, along with another reminder of what the date is today. After he went through his usual morning preparations for the day and boarded the bus, it seemed that the usual two girls who chatted near him decided that today would work for some introductions with him.   
"You know, we've been seeing you on the bus since only recently," the one who had given the other the invitation to accompany her commented. "Are you new in town, by chance?"   
"I moved here with my significant other about three weeks ago," Ulquiorra replied. "Ulquiorra Cifer."   
"Marie," she replied, saying it like a combination of 'ma' and 'ree'. "Marie Turner."   
"And I'm Mary," the other woman chirped, saying it like the word 'merry'. "Mary Fisher. Pleasure to finally speak to one of the two new members of this city!"   
"So why did you two move here, Ulquiorra?" 

"We had been living in an apartment before," he began, "off a couple towns away, and we had been saving money to get ourselves our own place. Grimmjow went out to scout out any available houses, along with seeing if we may be able to simply transfer into new work places near those places instead of having to find entirely-new jobs. He found matching work here, along with our new home, and once we had enough money saved up for it, he decided to bring me out here while working on work transfers for us."   
"That's so sweet," Marie spoke gently. "What kinda place did you two leave behind? Miss it at all?" Ulquiorra shook his head.   
"Not really, no. That apartment was... It was in need of repairs. Plenty of repairs. And the neighborhood and other occupants of the apartment were not always so friendly toward us."   
Mary placed a hand on one of his shoulders. "Oh, dear..! I am _so_ glad you two were able to leave there! We're a good city here, trust me! Crime rate's pretty much a zero, buildings are up-kept proper, the schools and parks are wonderful."   
"The businesses, too," Marie added. "The cost of living's low here, too, so you aren't gonna go broke just buying your groceries each week! Why, if ever you and Grimmjow find yourselves in any kinda pinch, we can help, too!" 

"My husband's sitting in a nice seat at the police station," Mary explained, "and hers is not only quite a socialite, but he's quite a lawyer, too! Mostly out-of-town cases, though, since this one tends to be a clean case."   
"Thank you. I shall let him know." They seemed like quite the pleasant women, and they also seemed to be pretty much correct, at least from his experiences here thus far. He hadn't heard any nasty gossip circulating, prices weren't bad, the people were friendly. Even that Julie from the restaurant opening hadn't honestly bitten at him then, as she had only seemed to want to know where he stood, make sure he wasn't lying, and then backed off pretty easily.   
"Oh," Marie spoke, "do you have a cell phone, by chance, hun? We could all exchange numbers, keep in contact with one another-"   
"We could totally hang out," Mary added excitedly, to which Marie nodded.   
After their number exchanging, Ulquiorra chatted for a few minutes more with them before he had to leave the bus for his job, giving them a wave as the bus continued off. 

This wasn't so bad. Quite an oddity, though, to meet two women who were such close friends with such close names.   
It was a first for him, at least.


	13. Chapter 13

The morning of the thirteenth came with an unexpected link being made in Ulquiorra's head. He'd woken up still a touch tired and not really thinking about too much, nothing unusual with that, but after he went into the shower, his mind began its work. 

He was by all means positive that 'will you' was the start of something, but then for Marie and Mary to possibly intentionally not introduce themselves to him until today, if they were honestly in on whatever it was Grimmjow was up to...   
Ulquiorra ended up finishing his shower swifter than usual, wanting to text Grimmjow about this. Yet after he was dressed, and after he'd calmed down a bit from that honestly-huge idea, he felt a touch uncertain about calling Grimmjow.   
After all, this wasn't just a huge leap of an idea; it was thinking Grimmjow was _proposing,_ of all the things to do, through others, bit by bit, while being _miles_ away from him. 

But would he..?


	14. Chapter 14

Ulquiorra had tried texting Grimmjow after work yesterday, after he had decided that whatever answer he got, he should probably wait to ask after work.  
But it seemed Grimmjow had not gotten a chance to reply. 

'Grimmjow, do you have a moment?' 

He had sent a very similar text message yesterday, which had not gained a response.  
With a soft sigh, Ulquiorra began to leave the house for work. Maybe Grimmjow had had a rough day, and now he was still resting after? Maybe he hadn't checked his cell phone, so he didn't know yet that Ulquiorra had sent him now two texts? 

However long it may take him to respond, Ulquiorra just hoped it wouldn't be too long before he did, and that he would have the time to tell him whether or not he had found the right pieces to put this puzzle together. 

It was by all means unusual for Ulquiorra, but he was feeling a sense of strong nervousness about this. He wanted an answer, yes, but he also wasn't sure what to expect, either.  
They had been together a few years now, after all; a proposal wouldn't be too soon for him by this point. Ulquiorra couldn't help but hope it was, but feared the idea of being wrong on this. 

This would become an awkward situation by any definition of the word if he was wrong.


	15. Chapter 15

Another day with a bus trip with Marie and Mary, work, and now, home.   
Ulquiorra stood with his hands on either side of his cell phone on the kitchen table, staring down at it with an expression that did not give away the growing anxiousness and concern within. 

What is Grimmjow doing? Is he alright? Why isn't he answering?   
Fatigue? Busy with work? Maybe he hasn't been recharging his own cell phone enough, so it's been dead for a while now? Or he could've turned it off and forgot to turn it back on? 

Then again, Grimmjow had warned him he'd be busy for a few days the last time he had texted Ulquiorra...   
And, of all things, Ulquiorra didn't want to overwhelm the other's cell phone with text messages and look like he was becoming desperate when today was only the halfway point, the fifteenth.   
Grimmjow would surely hold that over him. Perhaps even claim Ulquiorra had become the clingy boyfriend Ulquiorra himself would talk so poorly of, the people who seemed to become anxious when in the absence of their significant other for no reason, like they had to be in the other's presence at all times just to be calm themselves. 

Ulquiorra walked over to the living room couch to lie down on it, retrieve the remote for the television off the coffee table, and turn the television on.   
At least he had a job to distract him for several hours the majority of the remaining days of his wait.


	16. Chapter 16

'Sorry bout the silence, Ulqui. Might take me a bit 2 reply, been busy still, but whats up?' 

Ulquiorra was relieved to see the text the morning of the sixteenth, after he had turned his cell phone back on. 

'The puzzle you left me, by chance, is it "Will you marry me"?   
I believe that couple left themselves as Will in the contacts, there was a poster with "will" circled on it, Marie and Mary kept using "will", along with a work superior asking for a Will when there isn't one in accounting, because you requested they do so in order to get "will" to me?   
Then "you" came up more so than expected, especially from Marie and Mary, then Marie and Mary deciding to introduce themselves to me when they did, because of their names and "marry" being so close.' 

Ulquiorra felt sure that this was it, but was it..? It fit with how the month had gone thus far, and the idea that perhaps Grimmjow had convinced others to assist him.   
If that wasn't it, then he wasn't sure what it was. 

Whatever the answer may be, he had work to head out for, so he left with fingers crossed that Grimmjow wouldn't take too long to reply to this.


	17. Chapter 17

The next morning, Ulquiorra was relieved to find that he had a new text message from Grimmjow waiting for him. 

'If ya rlly arnt sure, got a few more tricks up my sleeve waiting 4 u this month ;p' 

Ulquiorra smirked. Of course he would...   
As he prepared himself for the day, he couldn't help but wonder what was waiting for him next. He stepped onto the bus as usual and sat himself down across the bus aisle from Mary and Marie, the spot he had switched over to since the two had begun to include him in their morning conversations.   
"Goodness, it's so _hot_ today," Mary commented as she redid her ponytail.   
"So true," Marie agreed. "Feels like we've already hit August, not June!" 

"Oh, definitely!" Mary paused for a moment before looking toward Ulquiorra. "Oh, I almost forgot! Would you like to come with us tomorrow, Ulquiorra, after work? We're not really doing anything special or fancy, just getting together to do a bit of shopping."   
"We talked about it over the phone yesterday," Marie chimed in, "and we figured, since you're still new to town, this could be a nice way to figure out where things are around here for you, if you want?"   
"May as well," Ulquiorra responded. It wasn't like he honestly had plans for tomorrow. Plus, he could use the trip for another grocery run, get a list of things to get put together after work today and have it pocketed and ready for tomorrow. 

"Oh, this'll be so much fun," Marie said with clear enthusiasm.


	18. Chapter 18

After work came and went on the eighteenth, Ulquiorra stepped off the bus with Mary and Marie at a stop he wasn't familiar with.   
The two had mentioned the 'shopping central' of town was more toward the other side of town than his usual stop, so he would by all means be in a more unfamiliar part of town. 

As they walked, it was decided that they would be visiting the large supermarket here last, since Mary and Ulquiorra both were planning on getting products that required being kept cold to remain good. They decided to visit the flower store first, since Marie had ordered some for her living room last week that _"should_ be here by now," as she had stated, and it was about to close soon. 

While Marie waited at the register in the flower-filled small shop for her order to be brought out, Ulquiorra looked around the shop curiously. He wasn't really all that knowledgeable about flowers, but they were at least nice to look at, especially compared to that apartment he and Grimmjow had been in before.   
Now that he considered it, they didn't even have a flower shop in that other little town; the nearest flower shop was on the other side of a neighboring town, he had been told once. 

_"It's so dark an' dank here, no wonder we had an easy time findin' a cheap place here!"_ Those were Grimmjow's first words after stepping back into the apartment after his first day of work in that town. "Betcha this place is desperate fer people," he remarked, "while th' people are all desperate t' get outta town!"   
"Dark, dank, however one may view this place," Ulquiorra had replied from where he had been sitting on the worn couch the apartment room had had when they moved into it, "it is where we live now."   
_"'Now'_ bein' the good word in that thought," Grimmjow had replied with his grin going. "Hell, only moved in here in the first place t' finally have a place t'gether; it's just the beginning!" 

Where they had lived before that old apartment wasn't at all a pleasant city, at least not for them. The city had been big, clean, lots of people, good work and schools...   
But the apartment owners there had clearly still not understood that it wasn't within their legal rights to keep denying the gay couple an apartment based solely on that. At least in that 'dark an' dank' one, people honestly didn't give a shit, just so long as they didn't do anything illegal and paid their dues. 

"Looking for something?" Ulquiorra returned to the present at Mary's question.   
"No, just simply looking at them." Mary gave a small smile as she, too, now stood beside him to look at the many colorful flowers around them.   
"Do you like flowers?"   
"I do not mind them... I haven't seen so many all in one place since I was a child," he admitted.   
"You haven't? Really?"   
He nodded. "Where Grimmjow and I had lived before here, the nearest flower shop was on the other side of a neighboring town. We had no reason to go there, so we didn't."   
"What about the parks? Or maybe people's yards?"   
"Parks were upkept," he recalled, "but, no, they did not have much in regards to flowers... A few of the residents more in-town had a few that could be spotted through their windows, but I do not recall seeing any yards with much going in regards to flowers."   
"That sounds dismal," she commented as she carefully picked up one of the smaller containers of soil and flowers.   
"It was bearable," he replied. "There were a few people who grew their own food, and some who simply let the weeds take their yards, but yards didn't seem to be the favored areas for flowers by the people there." 

"I've got a nice garden going," she informed him, "back behind my house, and a few in the front, too. My mother was such a green thumb, got me into gardening and surrounded us all with flowers in that home. Couldn't imagine living _anywhere_ without that extra color pop flowers bring, and the smells, too."   
"It is pleasant," he admitted. 

"Excuse me, sir?" Mary and Ulquiorra both looked curiously at the man behind the register now as he finished ringing up Marie before looking back at them. "By chance, are you... Uh, Ulquiorra..?"   
It seemed reading it really was more difficult if you hadn't heard it aloud before. The way he said it, the 'u' was like the one in 'unless', an added sort of w-sound directly after the 'qu', the 'i' pronounced like in 'itch'...   
"Ulquiorra," Ulquiorra said, "yes."   
The man seemed a bit flustered now. "I-I am so sorry, sir! My daughter received this order through a text message to the shop, so I've never honestly heard your name before!"   
"An order?" Marie seemed interested now. "But I thought you hadn't been here before, Ulquiorra? Or did ya just find them online and decide to send in an order?"   
"I did not request anything from here," he stated.   
"They said they were ordering them for you," the man explained, "and sent payment saying to start watching for ya after the fifteenth of this month. Guessing they knew you'd come in here eventually?" 

The man stepped back into the room of flowers behind him before emerging with a bouquet of roses, but it wasn't the usual bundle of red that Ulquiorra had seen before on shows or in books.   
Overall, the roses were coral or orange. In the center, however, was a lone green rose. Marie gave a playful _"oh my"_ to the sight while Mary brought a hand up to her mouth. "These are for you," the man said, "already paid for and from an anonymous who said you'd know who he is."   
Ulquiorra wasn't quite sure at all about what to make of this, but he carefully got the flowers with a "thank you" before wondering now about this. 

The colors were definitely unexpected, but he felt sure that Grimmjow was by all means responsible for this, too.


	19. Chapter 19

After that flower shop visit, Ulquiorra had gotten his groceries, accompanied Mary and Marie for their shopping for the day, and also picked out, with them, a nice clear vase for those roses. 

He couldn't help but wonder about the colors, though, as he sat down at the dining room table with them in their vase at its center after work on the nineteenth.   
And it just so happened that that cell phone Grimmjow had gotten him had internet going for it, so he simply flipped that open to look into this. The two women had mentioned yesterday, after all, that flowers seemed to have meaning to them, from what type of flower chosen to even what color they are. 

He was pretty sure roses were somehow connected to love... He Googled "flower meaning love" to see what would come up. A box above all of the other results with "Region or culture" at the top of it, as expected, mentioned the rose.   
And the first colors it mentioned were "coral or orange". When he saw they meant "Desire, passion", he felt his cheeks warm at that.   
Likely a reaction Grimmjow would've enjoyed. 

But it didn't mention _green_ roses in that box... He Googled "green rose meaning" next. That box showed up at the top with a picture of a light green rose and some text from a site beside it. 

" **Green Roses**. ... The most significant and popular **meaning** of the **green rose** is fertility. **Green** symbolizes richness, abundance, and bounty; **green roses** are thereby a sign of plenty. **Green** is life, abundant growth, and constant rejuvenation of the spirit. It signifies cheerfulness and new beginnings. 

Green Roses Symbolism - Fresh Flower  
flowerfreshonline.com/green-rose-symbolism.html" 

Considering how they were both male, Ulquiorra was guessing the fertility part, despite its apparent popularity, wasn't it. Richness, abundance, bounty...   
The one meaning that really struck him was the part about cheerfulness and new beginnings on this. Grimmjow had always been out to brighten his day, from what he could tell, and then this place, moving here, was by all means a new beginning for them both.   
Marriage was always said to be a new beginning, too... 

'Got those flowers from the shop yesterday, along with a vase for them. Thank you, Grimmjow.' 

Before sending the text, Ulquiorra paused, looking at it for a moment before reconsidering sending it _just_ yet. 

'Went out shopping with Mary and Marie yesterday and got those flowers from the shop yesterday, along with a vase for them.   
Thank you, Grimmjow <3'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did the same Google searches as Ulquiorra for this yesterday and had the same deal occur. 
> 
> The first search, credit to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_symbolism on the coral/orange roses portion.   
> The second, in regards to green roses specifically, credit to the same link mentioned in this chapter, flowerfreshonline.com/green-rose-symbolism.html


	20. Chapter 20

'Glad ya like em, Ulqui <3' 

Having a text like that in the morning was definitely a good start. What made it even better was knowing that Ulquiorra was now two-thirds of the way through June, almost to its end and Grimmjow's return.   
On the bus, Marie and Mary were curious to see if his guess at who the mystery flower gifter for him was correct, which he confirmed that it had indeed been Grimmjow, leading to their joy at the news and questions regarding it all, including the resurfacing of a certain question Ulquiorra himself was thinking about.   
"So is he trying to say," Marie wondered aloud, "that he's ready to take this relationship to the next step now..?"   
"I am not going to make any conclusions," Ulquiorra replied, "until I hear it from Grimmjow himself."   
"So in ten-ish days, right?" Marie sounded just as eager as he internally was about this.   
"Yes."   
"Oh, I hope that _is_ the case..!"   
"I mean," Mary spoke, "unless there's some kinda important date going that you may have forgotten, like perhaps the anniversary of when you got together?"   
"That would be in December," Ulquiorra stated. 

"Wait, _December?!_ Why'd ya hook up then?" Marie.   
"We..." It was a bit embarrassing to admit, but Ulquiorra knew their curiosity on the matter had been kindled. "We were both living in a nice city before our apartment before here, and that year, we had a terrible ice storm. The power on the southwest side of town was lost, and it just so happened to be where I had lived, and with a friend whose parents didn't know me well enough to invite me as well to their home when it happened."   
"Oh, hun," Mary spoke gently.   
"Grimmjow and I, we both worked at the same little convenience store at the time, and after one of the several guys he was living with informed him of the situation, and while I was... On the verge of catching cold, he decided to invite me to their home, on the opposite side of town. I reluctantly agreed to this idea, and he made sure I fully complied by sending several of his buddies he lived with to assist me in packing and moving my stuff over there. Also to make sure that I myself came along with it."   
"You were _that_ much against it?" Marie was clearly amused.   
"Grimmjow and I were prone to butting heads at work," he explained, "at any moment when he was with too much free time on his hands. We also are not the most alike people... He enjoys going out and being in large crowds, parties, being loud, while I would rather avoid crowds, people in general, and, as he has said, tend to not be very loud." 

"Sounds like a recipe for disaster," Mary commented.   
"I also thought so, and so I was highly reluctant to go through with this plan. He was, however, stubborn about it; he refused to take 'no' for an answer." Ulquiorra glanced away. "While I was there, he... Grimmjow confessed to me that he was always getting in my way and pestering me at work because I made him feel..." Ulquiorra smirked as he remembered that day, sitting there in confusion while watching the blue-haired man struggling to explain himself.   
"'Feel'..?"   
"Different. Like no one else did."   
"Cute," Marie cooed.   
"It took him a moment to finally get it out, but he eventually got it out that he loved me. Was head-over-heels about me, he claimed, and that when his buddies had told him not just about the power outage, but that I lived in that area, said I had nowhere else to go, he couldn't just leave me like that. He had seen that I wasn't fairing well, too; I had become more disconnected and was making mistakes at work which I would not make otherwise." 

"Surely you didn't continue working like that..?" Mary was clearly concerned now.   
"Tried to," he admitted, "but then Grimmjow told our boss and requested he take leave to care for me, since we lived in the same place now. It was supposed to be a temporary thing, but we ended up becoming more fond of one another during that time, and I ended up informing my prior residence that I was moving out. I moved right on in with him and his rambunctious bunch."   
"That's so romantic..!" Marie. 

And Ulquiorra couldn't help but agree, even if he had been so reluctant in the beginning, back during that winter storm.


	21. Chapter 21

'Just 9 more days, Ulq! On that final countdown now ;)' 

Such good news, yet the weather today was deciding to be otherwise. The sky was grey, the sun hidden behind them somewhere, while a light breeze blew through. It was a sure setting for rain.   
Ulquiorra didn't mind rain, but he knew so many others would call such a day gloomy, unwanted, as if some boding of ill luck. 

He sat at the dining room table and looked out at the sky through one of the windows, those deep blue curtains drawn back and making the view all the clearer for him. Today would be another day for him to rest from work, despite feeling no need for such a break, at least not for another nine days.   
Nine days... They were so close to but a mere week. He had been worried they'd only drag on, yet Grimmjow had done, even from such a distance, what he does best and had made those days fly right on by. Most of them, anyway. 

'Seems so.' 

Ulquiorra stood himself up and retrieved his keys from the table, then went to slip his shoes on before heading out. He had been able to look around this part of town before, and the other side of it recently with Mary and Marie, but he wasn't about to spend the day sitting around inside wondering about just what to do to pass the time.   
There was a public library not too far from home that he had wanted to look into once he got the chance, see if any of their books might catch his eye. 

Once inside, Ulquiorra made his way over to the bookshelves that stood against and stood lined up as aisles across from the entrance. As he looked around at the books, his eyes were caught by an unfamiliar crimson book that had what looked to be a small white envelope inside of it, perhaps acting like a bookmark. He carefully removed the book from the shelf, looking at the front of it first to see that it was titled _On the Matters of Emotion,_ a psychology work.   
When he opened the book where the envelop lay, he found himself in a chapter regarding love, noted as possibly one of the most mysterious of emotions which one experiences in the chapter.   
It wasn't surprising to also notice that his own first name was written on the envelope in Grimmjow's handwriting. He went to sit at one of the two tables this floor of the building had to offer before setting the book down on it and carefully opening the envelope. 

'Ulquiorra, 

Glad you're getting out of the house still, Ulq, besides for work. But try not to bury yourself too deep into any books.   
There are still people to meet, and places to see, after all! Likely at least a few more surprises left to find, too! 

See ya soon,   
Grimmjow' 

It was short, but he was sure Grimmjow, knowing him, had taken some time to figure this out and even deem it as enough to put down for Ulquiorra before enveloping it and stashing it away here. He couldn't help but wonder about just how many drafts, how many different ways this note could've gone, that Grimmjow had likely decided wasn't the 'right' one.   
He placed the note and envelope into the front of the book before going over to the desk to get himself a library card made, then check the book out before heading back home with it. 

While he did have books at home, this was one he hadn't read before, after all, and it did seem interesting.


	22. Chapter 22

'Just 8 more days!' 

Not only that, but there was someone whose favorite number was that very same one whose birthday was today, too.   
After work, Ulquiorra retrieved his small deep-green contacts book and flipped it to the second page to find the number he now dialed on his cell phone.   
After a couple rings came the owner of the number's voice. "Hello?"   
"Szayel, it's Ulquiorra-"   
"Oh, hello! Didn't recognize the number there."   
"We moved late last month," he explained, "and Grimmjow decided to get me a cell phone recently, but I called to wish you a happy birthday."   
"That sure was nice of him," Szayelaporro purred, "and thank you~! Speaking of which, where is that wily boyfriend of yours, anyway?" 

"Business trip, out of town." It wasn't surprising he'd call Grimmjow something like that; before he'd suddenly gone and decided he was hooked on Ulquiorra, Grimmjow had had a few flings that didn't last long, one of which was with the older of the Granz brothers, Szayelaporro's brother.   
"Oh? So he went outta town for that and left you alone at home?"   
"I'm fine, Szayelaporro. I've already gotten through twenty-two days, can survive another eight."   
_"Oh,_ so he's been outta town all month, then..? Goodness!"   
"He's been texting me," he informed him, "among other ways of still keeping in contact with me."   
"Hm..?" 

Ulquiorra sat himself down on the couch in the living room. "He left this little note for me in a book at the library," he replied, "knowing I would eventually go in there, and he ordered me a bouquet at the flower shop, too... He's done a few different things, it seems, and his note warned of more to come."   
"That's unusually thoughtful of him, I'd say," the pink-haired male responded. "Cute, too..!"   
"I... I think he may have even worked out a proposal to me through it."   
"Wait, _really?!_ Here I thought he would at least take another couple years to get that out, but, wow..! How do you figure that?"   
"Well, when he decides to leave a bunch of 'will', then 'you', and two women, Marie and Mary, likely in on it to not introduce themselves until after the other two words were clear to me..."   
"Well, hopefully that _is_ the case. Sounds like it was quite a task for him to go about before leaving, though... Very unlike him."   
"Perhaps, but it is all a game to him; that is like him." 

Szayel chuckled. "True, true. Well, I shall be going now, I have a little experiment to get back to, and it has a deadline coming, few days, but I'll talk to you later."   
"Alright. Talk to you later, then."


	23. Chapter 23

'Down to a week left now! Almost there ;)' 

Almost. Ulquiorra had today off, so he turned the television on and went to fetch the book from the library off of his night stand before returning to the living room to sit on the couch and read.   
For the most part, the television was simply for background noise. 

'Seems so. Down to lucky number seven days left.' 

After sending that text in reply to Grimmjow, he set his cell phone down beside the television remote on the coffee table and opened the book to begin reading.   
Today's plans were nice and simple; all three meals, some reading, and some more unpacking. With how little was left to unpack, he was sure he could finish that up today, perhaps even go on ahead and handle Grimmjow's boxes, and thus get that entirely out of the way. He'd spent all of his days off thus far mostly outside of the house, after all, so not all of the unpacking had been done, save for what he had handled the day he had gotten his four-leaf clover out and found Grimmjow's little one-word note with it. 

But, for now, a bit of reading and half-listening to the weather.


	24. Chapter 24

'Well, as we both kno, 7 may be considered THE lucky number, but 6 is mine. Also is where the countdowns at now' 

Grimmjow did always say his lucky number was six. Ulquiorra couldn't help but wonder if he himself had a lucky number as he read the text message.   
He shook his head as he sat on the bench at his bus stop. He was fine with Grimmjow thinking about those sorts of things, like having a lucky number or perhaps even an unlucky one, or thinking that things like horseshoes or four-leaf clovers could somehow bring luck, but he never really did consider luck to be something which could be controlled so easily.   
Ulquiorra brought the small pouch out from his jacket pocket that contained that four-leaf clover in resin. 

Despite his own disbelief in such things, it seemed this particular clover was somehow a comfort to him...   
As the bus came to a halt at his stop, Ulquiorra placed the pouch back into his pocket and boarded the bus, paying his fee before going to sit with Marie and Mary.   
"Ulquiorra!" Marie was sounding quite cheery this morning. "Good morning!"   
"So, how was your day off yesterday?"   
"It was fine," he replied. "Decided to spend it at home reading, along with handling what remained of the unpacking." 

It did seem, however, that things had honestly gotten better for him since he had met Grimmjow. Sure, they thought each other a nuisance at first, when they were just coworkers who lived on opposite ends of town, but then that winter storm had done its worst to bring out the best of results, Ulquiorra thought, for the two. 

"Hey, something up?" At Mary's question, Ulquiorra realized that he had somewhat let himself drift in his own thoughts, and a bit of a smile had crept over his lips.   
"It's nothing," he replied. 

He couldn't help but wonder now not about if he had a lucky number, but if perhaps a person could be seen as a 'lucky charm' of a sort.


	25. Chapter 25

'Down 2 the point u could count the days left on 1 hand now' 

At the end of his message, Grimmjow had stuck in a little emoji of a waving hand to go along with it. Now that it was the twenty-fifth, he was by all means right; five days left. 

'Any idea what time you'll be back in town Sunday?' 

Ulquiorra had left for work after sending his reply this morning. Now that it was noon, he was sitting in the break room at work with one of the plastic cups from the counter in there's stack in hand.   
He checked his phone once more while the cup he held in his right hand was almost empty.   
"Is Cifer in here, by chance?" Ulquiorra and the other two employees present looked over at the doorway to see the front desk clerk.   
"I am."   
"You seem to have received something in the mail," the man explained. "It just arrived a few minutes ago, if you wouldn't mind coming with me to get it."   
"I wouldn't." Ulquiorra stood himself up and followed him out, only taking a few minutes to get down a few flights of stairs to reach the main floor of the building. 

"If you'll wait here a moment," the desk clerk requested of him beside the front desk before he left into the small room that lay directly behind the desk, the room used to hold a few small tools and all of the mail received.   
When he came back out, he held a small brown box, likely only about a foot and a half in its dimensions. "Here we are," he said as he set that down on the desk before tapping a couple times on a small clipboard. "If you'll just sign and date this to say you received the package, I'll put down the package number and time for ya."   
"Thank you." After doing so, he curiously picked up the box and began to make his way back to the stairs. 

It wasn't until he had returned home that he decided to really look into this. Ulquiorra set the box down onto the dining room table before going to the bedroom to fetch his box cutter from his nightstand. He returned with it to the dining room and cut through the tape on one end of the box before setting the box cutter down and opening the mystery box.   
Inside was a folded piece of paper, a small bag of sea salt taffy, and a soft, round, black thing. He curiously picked it up to see that it had little wings like a bat's, small triangle-shaped ears, and two little yellow circles to act as its eyes.   
He had told Grimmjow once before that his favorite animal, if he had to pick one, was a bat. 

_"Your favorite animal's bats?"_ Grimmjow had sounded pretty surprised by this back then.   
"Yes." They had been sitting together behind the place which they had first met, as they had still been employees there. Coworkers on break at the time who had chosen to go outside and sit in the at-the-time mostly-empty parking lot. "Something wrong with that?"   
"Nah, just never had anyone tell me their favorite animal's bats b'fore." While they did still bicker on and off at that time, they still had moments when they'd be civil and communicate. Especially if it was quiet, as that seemed to always bother Grimmjow and provoke him into speaking to Ulquiorra.   
"I assume your favoring of cats is normal, considering how many people have them as a pet."   
"Well, yeah!" His reply sounded amused. "Lotsa people like cats 'n dogs! That's why so many people have 'em!"   
"Seems so." 

After a moment of silence, Grimmjow had yet another question up his sleeve after eating another one of his jerky strips from the bag he had been holding. "So what about candy?"   
Ulquiorra looked at him curiously. "Pardon?"   
"I've never seen ya eat any," Grimmjow remarked, "in _all_ the time we've worked t'gether, an' I've been wonderin' if yer one a those people who don't like any of it."   
"Not much," he admitted. "Not often, either, no..."   
"Hm."   
"There was one," he cautiously began to speak, "that was pretty popular back where I grew up, but I have yet to see it anywhere in this town."   
"Really?"   
Ulquiorra nodded. "I had more of a sweet tooth as a child, and my parents would get a bag every month for us to share."   
"So, what's the mystery sweet?" 

As Ulquiorra now opened the folded letter, he couldn't help but feel amused. 

"Ulquiorra,   
Thought I'd send you a little something for the last few days we've got before I get back. Would've sent it to the house, but they weren't about to hold this until the 25th for me, turns out, but they'd hold it if I was sending it to your work place! Weird ass mailing system. Anyway, I'll see ya soon, and I hope you like these!   
Grimmjow" 

Of course he liked it, along with knowing he wasn't the only one remembering such little details from such a time ago.


	26. Chapter 26

The morning of the twenty-sixth came with a start that didn't seem to bode well.   
Not when one has a job to get to and their alarm doesn't go off, but they instead wake to the sound of booming thunder outside. 

Ulquiorra looked to his alarm clock after a moment of realizing what that explosive sound was. To his dismay, the time was far too close to when his bus would arrive at his stop, causing a quick leave of his and Grimmjow's bed to get himself changed, brush his teeth, grab his jacket, keys, and cell phone, and hurry out.   
Once outside, he got to learn that the thunder wasn't alone; it was pouring down rain. 

As he ran, Ulquiorra couldn't help but wish he had grabbed his umbrella, but it still remained back at home, hanging on the coat hanger by the door.   
When he reached the bus stop, he was panting, wet, and wishing that he didn't have work today. Or that his alarm clock had gone off like it should have this morning.   
"Rough start there?" He looked now at a man who was standing beside the bench at the bus stop, an umbrella open and over not just that man's head, but now being held so it was over Ulquiorra, too.   
"Seems so," he admitted.   
"Well, lucky for you," the man spoke with a cheerful voice, "it seems there's someone watchin' out for ya." Ulquiorra watched curiously as the man held out his other arm toward Ulquiorra, which was holding, for some reason, another umbrella.   
Ulquiorra cautiously took it from him. "Why..?"   
"Like I said, someone's still here for ya, even if he ain't here himself." Before he could ask him about this, Ulquiorra's bus arrived, slowly rolling to a stop. "Hope the rest of your day goes well," the man spoke before walking away. 

Ulquiorra wanted to follow him, but he instead chose to board the bus, pay his fee, and sit himself with the two women he now normally sat with while wondering if Grimmjow had once again pulled through for him.


	27. Chapter 27

Three more days. Just three. More. Days. 

Ulquiorra had texted Grimmjow yesterday, after work, and was now back home again, after another day of work, lying on his back on the couch. On his chest was the small plush bat, and on the coffee table was the book from the library, the television remote, and the small bag of sea salt taffy. His cell phone was currently being looked at by him while he had a blue piece of sea salt taffy slowly fading away in his mouth. 

'Don't know what the weather over there is like, but it was storming over here today.   
Seems someone at the stop was ready with an umbrella for me, as my alarm had not gone off, for some reason.' 

The television was on, giving him the background noise of a baseball game. Grimmjow would've surely been watching this, knowing how he was, but Ulquiorra didn't really care for sports.   
As the announcer on the television was getting excited over a home run, Ulquiorra now saw a replying text on his cell phone screen. 

'Sorry bout how late this is, was packing yesterday. Weathers been ok here, but glad u had at least a bit of luck with that!' 

Ulquiorra was glad Grimmjow had decided to start packing already, but he felt sure the other had set that little emergency umbrella pickup up for him. 

'He told me someone was watching over me, despite not being here himself to do it.   
Were you worried that sort of thing might occur? My waking late and running out with no umbrella?' 

'Well ya I'd worry tht might happen!   
Ur alarm clock isnt exactly new and failed ya once b4, remember?' 

Ulquiorra frowned at this. It wasn't a memory he was fond of, but Grimmjow was correct, it hadn't gone off once before, back when they were still coworkers. They were in the same building by that time, and it was during that winter storm. 

_"You're gonna collapse if ya keep this up, ya know."_ Grimmjow had sounded more irritated than worried while they were eating dinner that night. Before he had left for work, Yylfordt had gotten spaghetti made and ready for dinner, then off he had left just as Ulquiorra and Grimmjow had returned.   
At the moment, there were only three of the occupants present at the table. "He has a point," one of the others who lived in that house, Roy, agreed. "I had a coworker who tried to work through a bug once b'fore, an' one a the days she came to work, she knocked out cold in the break room. Boss ended up telling us all t' leave 'er, called 'er mom, an' out she went with an arm slung over her mom's shoulders."   
"I shall be fine," Ulquiorra replied calmly as he continued to eat.   
"If you say so," Roy remarked, "but I ain't shoulderin' ya home if ya go down." 

Ironically enough, it was the next morning that his alarm hadn't gone off while everyone else but Shawlong had gone off to work before he had even woken up. When he did, Ulquiorra ended up in a panic when he saw that, to his dismay, he was five hours late; it was already noon.   
"You needn't worry, Cifer." Ulquiorra, after getting dressed, was just about to leave when he heard Shawlong speak.   
"I'm five hours late for work, Shawlong." He had done his best to keep his voice steady, but there was still a hint of his agitation with both himself for not waking up sooner and, of all things, his alarm clock for not waking him.   
"You are not late for anything," Shawlong replied as he continued to stir the soup he had on the stove. "Grimmjow had decided to wait until you were asleep before calling in for you. He was going to inform you of this before he left, but because you were not awake yet, he decided to leave that to me." Shawlong had the day off, so it made sense to leave a message like that with him. "Grimmjow's going to request leave for the both of you while there."   
"Why..?"   
"Because you are sick, and he wants to make sure someone is here to assist you in your recovery." 

'I wish I didn't remember.' 

It had been, despite that he had been ill, a good break from work with Grimmjow, but it had definitely taken quite the talk to convince him later that day that no, Grimmjow had not turned his alarm off on him.   
After yesterday, he was beginning to feel like he needed a new one. 

'So now do u believe me tht I DIDNT turn ur alarm off back then??? xD' 

Ulquiorra smirked. 

'I believed you back then already, remember?   
But I am starting to think I could use a new alarm clock now.'


	28. Chapter 28

Just in case his alarm clock decided to, once again, not sound his alarm the morning of the twenty-eighth, Grimmjow had informed Ulquiorra that his cell phone could cover for it, that it had an alarm function.   
He just had to keep it on that night and, just in case, plug it in to keep its battery. 

Since he didn't need two alarms to handle, Ulquiorra decided to not use his clock's, just his phone's. After waking to that, he prepared for the day and went off to work, going through the now-usual. 

It was definitely exciting to think that he only had two more days until Grimmjow's return, but he refrained himself from getting too excited while out.   
Once he got home again, Ulquiorra turned the television on before beginning to work on dinner, deciding he was feeling like a little stir fry tonight. 

What would he fix up for Grimmjow's return..? Maybe they could go out to eat? That new place, the food there was good...   
Ulquiorra couldn't help but smirk at this. Of all things, he was getting so giddy about trying to figure out the food work for when Grimmjow got home.   
He picked up his cell phone from the counter. 

'Grimmjow, are we going out to eat when you get back, or staying home?   
Either way is fine with me.' 

After he set it back down, Ulquiorra continued with the stir fry. After a moment, his phone alerted to a new text, which he then picked it up to check. 

'If ya kno a good place, we could go out?   
Otherwise, I would lov 2 hav ur cooking again when I get back, Ulqui. Thats always good by me ;3' 

Ulquiorra smirked. Always knew how to compliment him like this. 

'Well then, how about we go out first, and then I'll fix up the next meal?   
There's this new place, the food there is good, and well-priced?' 

'Sure! And no arguing, Ulqui, I'm paying ;p' 

'You're doing so much already, Grimmjow.' 

The man was so far away, yet he was still managing to send him gifts, have a man ready with an umbrella for him, remind him of what date it is... He was still doing so much for Ulquiorra. 

'Then wats 1 more thing to it? Lemme do this too 4 ya, Ulqui ;3' 

He shook his head slowly.   
There was just no telling this man no sometimes... 

'Fine. I can repay you through good food at home after, then, for all of this.'


	29. Chapter 29

"So Grimmjow's coming home tomorrow?" Ulquiorra nodded to Marie's question. "Oh, that's great!"   
"I'm sure you're ready to have him back," Mary spoke with a smile. "I would be on pins and needles with joy if my husband had gone off for a whole month and returning tomorrow."   
"Same! I'm surprised you're being able to keep your composure so well, Ulquiorra!" 

The three were in their usual spots on the bus, all ready for their jobs while speaking of the current big event for their trio, Grimmjow's upcoming return home. "It is a bit of a struggle," he admitted, feeling slightly embarrassed even saying so. He wasn't one to become so eager for much of anything, yet it felt like there were butterflies dancing around inside him, or a large bubble bound to burst.   
"So," Marie cooed, "are you two doing anything special tomorrow? Haven't seen each other in a whole month, after all."   
"We'll be going out to eat," he replied, "at that restaurant that opened earlier this month, but I am unsure of if Grimmjow may have any other ideas on mind for us."   
"After his little message bits," Mary considered aloud, "it does seem like you might want to not plan too much until you find out what that was all about."   
"Especially if he _is_ gonna propose to you..!" Marie seemed to almost squeal, she seemed so excited. 

"Whatever it may be," Ulquiorra replied, "I am just glad he will be back home."   
"So cute," Marie said happily as she now seemed ready to pop. "Oh, I'm so happy for you!"   
"Sounds like you two are definitely good for each other," Mary agreed. 

Ulquiorra nodded. Married or not, he felt so much better with Grimmjow beside him.   
And he'd have all of tomorrow to finally have that back.


	30. Chapter 30

Ulquiorra listened intently for the front door while sitting on the couch in the living room. Today was the day, and he didn't want to miss Grimmjow's return.   
When he finally heard a key in the front door, Ulquiorra curiously stood himself up to go look. 

"Hey! I'm ho-" Grimmjow was not at all expecting Ulquiorra to almost come out of nowhere and get him around the chest like he did. He looked down at the shorter male and couldn't help but smirk. "What, ya miss me _that_ much, Ulqui?"   
"Shut up," was the reply he had muttered into his chest.   
Grimmjow placed an arm around him. "C'mon, wouldn't hurt ya t' admit it!" Before Ulquiorra could respond, Grimmjow's free hand was ruffling his hair. "I _know_ ya did!"   
"Grimmjow, don't," he managed to get out before Grimmjow decided to halt the hair-ruffling to kiss the other's forehead. 

"I missed ya, too, Ulquiorra." While it was sweet, it was also Grimmjow amusing himself with the results, a pink-cheeked flustered little brunette. He definitely missed that.   
Ulquiorra glanced at the wall to his left. "I... Missed you, too, Grimmjow."   
Grimmjow grinned. "That'll work. Now, I'm starvin'! After I get my shit inside from the car, let's head out an' get some lunch!" 

After Ulquiorra had introduced Grimmjow to the new restaurant, Grimmjow decided he wanted to walk around for a while, so not take the bus home. "You know walking home shall take some time from here," Ulquiorra informed him, "right?"   
"Yeah, but we got all day," his boyfriend commented, "so why not? Walk around, get t' know this place, either get home for dinner or eat somewhere we end up seein'. Ya took t'day off work, after all, an' I've still got 'till the day after t'morrow."   
"I do, too," Ulquiorra agreed, causing those blue eyes to look at him curiously. "I took today and tomorrow off."   
Grimmjow placed an arm around Ulquiorra's shoulders. "So we got the rest of t'day _and_ all of t'morrow to ourselves!"   
"It seems so." 

After some walking, the two came upon the lake where Ulquiorra had met the couple who gave him his cell phone on Grimmjow's behalf. Ulquiorra's emerald eyes looked toward the lake curiously and watched as a few ducks floated along, likely speaking to one another every now and then. It was a calming sight, with the sun still out for the afternoon time while the water rippled gently from a soft breeze.   
"See somethin' weird?"   
Ulquiorra shook his head. "No, just looking... This was where those two handed off the cell phone you got me, Grimmjow."   
"Really?" Ulquiorra nodded. "Hm."   
Grimmjow paused in his walking, leading to Ulquiorra doing the same, looking back at him after having gotten a couple steps ahead of the other. "Yes... Why?" 

Grimmjow walked over to the fence, causing Ulquiorra to decide to also do so. "Quite a spot t' pick," he heard the blue-haired man mutter.   
"Grimmjow?" He looked back at Ulquiorra now before giving him a smile.   
"Come here for a moment." Ulquiorra did so, walking over to stand beside him and that fence. "So, from what I understood, ya got what I left ya, for gifts and for the li'l message?"   
"Yes." He felt a bit nervous now, but he kept his composure, watching Grimmjow and wanting to hear him out before coming to any conclusions. 

"Well, we've been t'gether for a good while now, an' I just can't seem t' see a future without ya..." It was clear to Ulquiorra that he had spent some time trying to figure this out, and yet was still struggling a bit with making sure it all came out.   
"I feel the same way, Grimmjow."   
Grimmjow blinked a bit at that, but this seemed to encourage him to continue on. "As we both know, ya figured out the clues for three words, an' that there's just one more, then." He was wearing a white short-sleeve shirt with a collar, which the collar for it was down, that had a pocket on the upper-left of its front.   
Normally that was the kind of shirt he'd wear for work days, but it seemed to be serving him a different purpose today than to look professional; he reached into the pocket on it to remove a small black box. 

Even with how much he had been suspecting this to be the mystery message's answer, Ulquiorra was still a touch surprised at the other's sudden decision to go down on one knee and hold the box out toward him, opened to reveal a ring. "Will you marry me, Ulquiorra?"   
It took him a short moment to get a nod, then words out. "Yes, Grimmjow, I... I will."   
Grimmjow seemed quite triumphant at this, a satisfied grin appearing as he got the ring on Ulquiorra before standing up to then swiftly move for a kiss, one which Ulquiorra was happy to oblige. 

He had been waiting for what felt like such a long time for this, but to be with Grimmjow, he felt that made it all worth the wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seems I still had a few late chapters there, but here it is, the final day, and thus, the wrap-up!   
> Hope you like it :)


End file.
